Cut more beds, says NHS official

NHS hospitals in England have jettisoned nearly a third of their beds in the past 20 years and patients would benefit if they got rid of even more, the leader of the health service's managers said last night. Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the cuts announced during the past few weeks paved the way for improvements in patient care.

"Patients' needs are changing and the NHS is adapting to meet those needs," Dr Morgan said as the confederation published a report extolling the benefits of cutting the time patients stay in hospital. It listed reasons why patients do not necessarily require beds. For example, new chemotherapy treatments can be administered to patients at home, keyhole surgery involves shorter recovery times, and the ambulance service treats more people in their own homes. Improved hospital efficiency has also produced quicker test results and shorter waiting times, allowing patients to go home sooner.

But Karen Jennings, head of health at the public sector union Unison, said beds were often lost due to cost-cutting by hospitals built under the private finance initiative. "We need to look at how close beds are together, cross-infection rates and other issues that arise from a smaller number of beds," she said.

Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary, said: "We run a severe risk of shutting down hospital capacity when the community services cannot cope."